BLAVATSKY TEACHINGS ABOUT THE KUNDALINI

DEFINITION

Blavatsky defined this occult force as follows:

« Kundalini Sakti. The power or Force which moves in a curved path. It is the Universal life-Principle manifesting everywhere in nature. This force includes the two great forces of attraction and repulsion. Electricity and magnetism are but manifestations of it.

This is the power which brings about that “continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations” which is the essence of life according to Herbert Spencer, and that “continuous adjustment of external relations to internal relations” which is the basis of transmigration of souls, punar janman (re-birth) in the doctrines of the ancient Hindu philosophers.

A Yogi must thoroughly subjugate this power before he can attain Moksha [Nirvana]. »

(Secret Doctrine I, p.293, 1888)

« Kundalini Sakti (a Sanskrit word) is the power of life; one of the Forces of Nature; that power that generates a certain light in those who sit for spiritual and clairvoyant development. It is a power known only to those who practice concentration and Yoga. »

(Theosophical Glossary, p.182)

« Kundalini (the “Serpent Power” or mystic fire) is called the “Serpentine” or the annular power on account of its spiral ­like working or progress in the body of the ascetic developing the power in himself. It is an electric fiery occult or Fohatic power, the great pristine force, which underlies all organic and inorganic matter. »

(The Voice of the Silence, p.12, 77-78)

RELATION OF KUNDALINI WITH MANAS

When someone ask:

-       What is the septenary classification of Manas? There are seven degrees of the Lower Manas, and presumably there are seven degrees of the Higher. Are there then fourteen degrees of Manas, or is Manas, taken as a whole, divided into forty-nine Manasic fires?

Blavatsky gave the following answer:

« Certainly there are fourteen, but you want to run before you can walk. First learn the three, and then go on to the forty-nine.

There are three Sons of Agni; they become seven, and then evolve to the forty-nine. But you are still ignorant how to produce the three. Learn first how to produce the “Sacred Fire,” spoken of in the Puranas.

The forty-nine fires are all states of Kundalini, to be produced in ourselves by the friction of the triad. First learn the septenary body, and then that of each Principle. But first of all learn the first Triad (the three vital airs). »

(SD III, p.544)

THE ASCENSION OF KUNDALINI

According to Madame Blavatsky, there is a relationship between Kundalini, the Heart, the Third Eye and Buddhi.

FIRST STEP: THE HEART

In the first fragment of The Voice of the Silence it is stated:

« Let not thy “Heaven-born,” merged in the sea of Mâyâ [the world of illusion], break from the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart and the abode of the World’s Mother.

(p.9)

And in a footnote, Blavatsky adds:

« The “fiery power” and the "World-mother" are names given to Kundalini – one of the mystic “Yogi powers”. It is an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which when aroused into action can as easily kill as it can create.

It is Buddhi considered as an active instead of a passive principle (which it is generally, when regarded only as the vehicle, or casket of the Supreme Spirit Atma). »

(p.76-77)

This means that when the man reaches a certain level of evolution, his Kundalini will wake up and will no longer be lodged at the base of the spine, but will now be lodged in the heart chakra.

But Blavatsky does not relate the awakening of this force with the methods followed by Tantric and Yoga traditions:

« He who has studied both systems, the Hatha-Yoga [which is the technique used by Yogis in India] and Raja-Yoga [which is the technique used by the Theosophists], finds an enormous difference between the two: one is purely psycho-physiological [the Hatha-Yoga], the other purely psycho-spiritual [the Raja-Yoga].

The Tantrists do not seem to go higher than the six visible and known plexuses, with each of which they connect the Tattvas; and the great stress they lay on the chief of these, the Mûladhâra Chakra (the sacral plexus), shows the material and selfish bent of their efforts towards the acquisition of powers.

And now that I have shown that the Tântric works as explained by Râma Prasad, and other Yoga treatises of the same character which have appeared from time to time in Theosophical journals –– for note well that those of true Râja-Yoga are never published –– tend to Black Magic and are most dangerous to take for guides in self-training, I hope that the Esotericists will be on their guard. »

(CW XII, p.616 & 621)

On the other hand, Blavatsky indicates that the awakening of Kundalini through the spiritual path is the result of the activation of Buddhi, which takes place first in the heart.

As she wrote:

« The Consciousness which is merely the animal Consciousness is made up of the Consciousness of all the cells in the Body, except those of the Heart. For the Heart is the organ of the Spiritual Consciousness.

. . .

The Heart is the centre of the Spiritual Consciousness, as the Brain is the centre of Intellectual Consciousness. But this Spiritual Consciousness cannot be guided by a person, nor can its energy be directed by him, until he is completely united with Buddhi-Manas. »

(CW XII, p.694-695)

SECOND STEP: THE THIRD EYE

« If the Heart could, in its turn, become positive and impress the Brain, the spiritual Consciousness would reach the lower Consciousness.
. . .
This is the “memory of the Heart”; and the capacity to impress it on the Brain, so that it becomes part of its Consciousness, is the [spiritual] “opening of the Third Eye.”

(Contrary to what people think, spiritual enlightenment does not come from “up to down,” but from “down to up,” meaning from the heart to the brain.)

In deep sleep the Third Eye opens, but it does not remain open. Still, some impressions from the Spiritual Consciousness do reach the Brain more or less, thus making the lower ego responsible. And there are some of these which are received through the brain, which do not belong to our previous personal experience. In the case of the Adept, the brain is trained to retain these impressions. »

(CW XII, p.696)

And The Voice of the Silence also refers to this:

« Then [once Kundalini is active in the heart] from the heart that power shall rise into the sixth, the middle region, the place between thine eyes, when it becomes the breath of the One-Soul, the voice which filleth all, thy Master’s voice.

’This only then thou canst become a “Walker of the Sky” who treads the winds above the waves, whose step touches not the waters. »

(p.9)

According to Blavatsky, the Third Eye corresponds to the pineal gland in the brain, so the latter is affected by the awakening of Kundalini:

« There are seven cavities in the Brain. ... The sixth cavity is the Pineal Gland, also hollow and empty during life; the granules are precipitated after death.

The Pineal Gland corresponds with Manas until it is touched by the vibrating light of Kundalini, which proceeds from Buddhi, and then it becomes Buddhi-Manas.
. . .
The fires are always playing round the Pineal Gland; but when Kundalini illuminates them for a brief instant, the whole universe is seen. »

(CW XII, p.697)

CONCLUSION

Kundalini serves to awaken the occult powers in humans, and that is why The Voice of the Silence mentions:

« This “mystic Power” [Kundalini] can make of thee a god. »

(Voice, p.12)

But Blavatsky also made a warning:

« The knowledge is the last word of Magic. It is connected with Kundalini, that can as easily destroy as preserve. The ignorant tyro might kill himself. »

(SD III, p.537)

« Kundalini, or the sacred fire, is a power (Siddhi); it is the serpentine or spiral force, which if misused can kill you. »

(CW XI, p.488)

OBSERVATION

Blavatsky also spoke of the possibility of working with the Cosmic Kundalini through our personal Kundalini, but she also pointed out how dangerous it can be if one is not before prepared for it:

« In The Secret Doctrine it is almost revealed that the “Sons of Fohat” are the personified forces known, in a general way as Motion, Sound, Heat, Light, Cohesion, Electricity (or Electric) Fluid, and Nerve Force (or Magnetism).

This truth, however, cannot teach the student to attune and moderate the Kundalini of the Cosmic plane with the vital Kundalini, the Electric Fluid with the Nerve Forces, and unless he does so, he is sure to kill himself; for the one travels at the rate of about 90 feet, and the other at the rate of 115,000 leagues a second. »

(Collected Writings XII, p.620)

And that is why Master Pasteur explained that as long as a human is not able to handle through his body the energy (for example the lightnings produce) without that killing him, this human is not yet able to handle the Cosmic Kundalini because that higher level energy is minimal of that intensity.

(Note: Blavatsky spoke more about the Kundalini practice in the Inner Group Teachings, and when I have time, I will transcribe what she mentioned about it.)